Tesco vs. Sainsbury's: results head-to-head

The two British supermarket behemoths released their results today. Graham
Ruddick assesses the consequences for investors.

Sainsbury's like-for-like sales grew by 2pc excluding fuel in the 16 weeks to September 28, meaning that like-for-likes grew by 1.4pc for the first half of the year as a whole, significantly ahead of the 0.5pc drop reported by rival Tesco.

The performance was driven by sales of its own-brand food and clothing range Tu, as well as its online and convenience store businesses.

Sales of Taste the Difference and By Sainsbury's own-label food grew at more than twice the rate of branded food.

Tesco, meanwhile, announced that pre-tax profits fell by 24pc to £1.39bn in the 26 weeks to August 24.

Like-for-like sales in the UK fell by 0.5pc in the first half of the year, but this included a 0.9pc drop in the first quarter and flat sales in the second.